


Chasing Cars

by rebel_rebel_in_storybrooke



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-08-13 21:48:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7987393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebel_rebel_in_storybrooke/pseuds/rebel_rebel_in_storybrooke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"If I lay here<br/>If I just lay here<br/>Would you lie with me<br/>And just forget the world?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chasing Cars

**Author's Note:**

> I do this thing where I'll hear a song and get these sort of music videos playing in my head starring our favorite true love couple, and then things like this happen. Enjoy!

Regina was out on a late night walk, needing to clear her head of thoughts of a particular blonde. At least the weather was nice; with it being mid summer, she barely needed a light jacket. The streets were long since abandoned by this time of night, hazy street lamps illuminating the roads and buildings she passed. No, the only company she had this late were the fireflies, twinkling in and out of the darkness and making an otherwise ominous, dark town into, well, something out of a fairy tale. The irony was not lost on her.

She was just approaching the four-way intersection in the middle of town when she stopped, puzzled. There was something on the road. Or, _someone_. She squinted as she got closer; the clacking of her shoes on the pavement rousing them. A mane of blonde hair shifts on the pavement as Emma looks up at her.

“Hey, Regina.” She said, with a small smile.

“Miss Swan, what are you doing in the middle of the road in the middle of the night? Are you _trying_ to get run over?” Regina asked, her tone dry and oozing with sarcasm.

“Come down here.” She said with a goofy grin.

“I beg your pardon?” Regina deadpans.

“You asked what I was doing, come down here and I’ll show you.” Regina still looked skeptical.

“Come on, it’s the middle of the night, everybody’s asleep, we’re not gonna get run over.” She added with a roll of her eyes.

“On the ground?”

Emma scoffed, leaning up to shuck her leather jacket and lay it down beside her.

“Ta-da!” Emma flourished with her hands. “Better?”

Regina nodded, gracefully crouching to sit in her pencil skirt. Emma lay back down, encouraging Regina to lean back as well. She went to lay back on Emma’s jacket, finding Emma’s extended arm being offered as a pillow. As strange as the idea of essentially cuddling in the middle of the street with Emma was, Regina went with it. So she got comfortable, glancing slightly up at Emma.

“So, what exactly is it that we’re doing?”

“Existing.”

“ _Existing_?”

“Yeah.”

“Just, existing? And we need to be in the middle of the street to do this?”

“You’re missing the point.” Emma said quietly, she sounded so far away.

“And that would be what, dear?”

Emma just leaned over towards her, bringing her opposing index finger softly to Regina’s lips and making a hushing noise. Emma’s face hovered just inches above her own, just Emma’s fingertips separating them. Her breath hitched.

“Don’t think. Just _be_.” Emma said softly. She lowered herself back down, wrapping her arm around Regina’s shoulders. And, maybe, Regina might have snuggled into the embrace.

If she had to admit it, once she tried to clear her mind, there was an element of surrealism about them. The lone street lamp casting them in a washed out yellow glow, shadows stretching across them, the almost eerie quiet that came from a normally bustling area during a period of emptiness. And the added element of laying the street, being in a place you normally wouldn’t be, added to the ambiance. She couldn’t explain it, but there was definitely an aura to this place. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“ _Now_ you get it.” Emma whispered. “Isn’t it magical?” Regina could only nod in reply.

They lay there several minutes, just living in the moment.

“I do this sometimes.” Emma whispered, almost absently, “When I was growing up. When things would get too intense, I’d go find a quiet place to be alone and try not to think for a while.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to disturb you.” Regina suddenly felt as if she were intruding and attempted to get up. “I should go.”

“Regina, wait.” Emma held her down, “It’s fine. Please stay. I’ve - I’ve never shared this with anybody, I’d really like it if you stayed.”

Regina settled back into Emma’s embrace.

“So,” Regina began, “what has you troubled, Emma?” She heard a small chuckle and looked up to see Emma with a smirk on her face.

“You.” Emma looked down into her eyes.

“Me?”

“Mhm.” Emma confirmed.

“What about me has you troubled?” Regina tried to think of something she might have done to upset her, but came up empty. She and Emma had been getting along fine recently. Better than fine, actually. That was why Regina herself had ventured out to clear her head. “Have I done something wrong?”

“That’s the problem, Regina,” she ran her fingertips over Regina’s cheek gently, “you’re perfect.” Regina blushed. “And I’m, well,” Emma sighed, waving a hand in exasperated defeat, “me.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“I mean, you are this amazing, beautiful, powerful woman, and honestly you scare the shit outta me, and I’m this fumbling _idiot_ that can’t make up their mind about a literal walking Captain Morgan advertisement long enough to even consider if maybe I deserve better. I definitely don’t deserve someone as wonderful as you.” Emma trailed off, leaving Regina laying there, confused.

“I thought you loved Hook, that he made you happy?” Regina asked, trying to keep the jealousy out of her voice.

“I do, he does, but it’s just not right. I can’t explain it. It’s like I’m trying to force a perfect relationship with him because I’m his happy ending, but I don’t think he’s mine.” Regina just lay there, listening, letting Emma go at her own pace. “With you, though, it never feels forced. I mean, sure we butt heads every now and then, but that passion is always there. _Especially_ when we argue. And the rest of the time, I just feel like you are the one person I can always count on, you know? My rock.” She added in a whisper, “My home.”

“Emma, I don’t know what to say.” Regina was trying to process what she’d just been told. Emma returned her feelings?

“Then don’t say anything.” Emma rolled so she was now hovering over her, hopeful smile on her face. “Do you trust me?”

Regina nodded as Emma tenderly cradled her cheek, leaning down. Her eyes fell closed when Emma’s lips met hers. So soft, so gentle. Regina found herself leaning up to meet her, returning the kiss. It was brief, but to the both of them it just felt _right_.

“Emma, I-“ Regina began, but Emma quickly silenced her with a chaste kiss.

“Please, don’t say anything. Not yet. Good, bad, or otherwise. I just wanna lay here for a while.” Emma rolled back onto her back. “Would you lie with me, here? Just, forget the world for a while?”

Regina only scooted closer to her in response, laying her head on Emma’s chest, staring up at the stars. She smiled as she felt Emma’s arm (formerly serving as Regina’s pillow) wrap around her waist, pulling her closer.

Neither of them spoke. They just lay there a while, picking constellations out of the stars that shone through the haze of the street lamp. They both knew things had changed, but, just for now, it didn’t matter. In this surreal time and place, they were just two people, wasting time, following the movements of the occasional firefly above their heads. And it was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Liminal spaces are so fascinating, I'm still trying to nail down writing about them, but damn, I love the concept.


End file.
